


Coffee Break

by Minuialeth75



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 18:55:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16124648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minuialeth75/pseuds/Minuialeth75
Summary: In which Steve comes to the rescue, is a bad liar, and also a thief.





	Coffee Break

**Author's Note:**

> Written for @writingcroissant 2k Marvel Writing Challenge on Tumblr.  
> Prompt: I need you to be my girlfriend/boyfriend for about five minutes!
> 
> Set between Avengers Assemble and Captain America : The Winter Soldier. 
> 
> Warnings :  
> Situation of work harassment. No inappropriate touching but words. I’ve been there and I didn’t trigger myself writing it but everyone’s different.

You were in deep trouble. You should have known this would eventually happen, but you had hoped it wouldn't be that fast.  
Brian, from accounts department, was hot on your heels, calling your name. You were pretending not to hear him, trying to walk as fast as possible but without looking like you were running away.  
Why was it always the creepy ones who seemed to be interested in you?!

 

You had started working at the Stark Tower two months ago. Nothing prestigious, you were just a secretary there, as you kept reminding friends and family. But still, it was a bit thrilling to work here, and you were finally getting to use the several languages you spoke.  
You had met Brian on your first day, when you had been introduced to the various departments you were going to work with. He had immediately made your skin crawl. It was probably his way of giving you a once-over as he shook your hand for a bit too long. You always trusted your sixth sense when meeting new people and sadly, your gut-feeling hadn't failed you where Brian was concerned.  
He went out of his way to spend his breaks with you. Literally. His department’s breakroom wasn’t the same as yours, yet he came to have his coffee at yours as often as possible, talking to you only. But it wasn’t a conversation. It was only Brian talking. Talking about himself.  
Worse still, you realized quickly that some of the women working in your department seemed jealous of the attention he bestowed on you. They seemed to only be aware of the fact that Brian was very good looking. You only saw his creepiness and his douchebaggery.

Apparently, Brian had mistaken your tolerance of him for genuine interest – because of course, just your luck – and had started to hint that you should spend more time together.   
You could have frankly expressed what you thought of his attentions, but you knew he most probably wasn’t the kind of man to take any sort of rejection well.  
Brian had a high position in his department and you were just beginning here. You had no doubt that he could make your life at work difficult, and that wasn’t something you wished to experience – ever again. Damn men and their egos.

Since there hadn’t been any proper invitation to a date yet, you still pretended not to have understood his allusions to spending time together outside of work.

The coffee breaks quickly became a chore. You first tried to take your breaks at your desk but as you continued working like crazy, that kind of defeated their purpose. Brian had quickly discovered your new routine anyway, and started to talk your ear off at your own desk. This pushed you to devise a new plan: your searches had led you to find a breakroom a little ways away that no one seemed to use. At least not during the usual break hours. It was well appointed, with everything to make coffee or tea, a sink, tables and chairs. Most importantly, it was Brian Free.  
You couldn’t take all your breaks there, of course, otherwise Brian would have noticed something. You just pretended you hadn’t had the time for a break when he remarked he hadn’t seen you the day before.  
It worked quite well for two weeks. Then Brian announced that he was going on a holiday. You had tried to keep a neutral face while you were doing a happy dance in your mind. That is, until Brian said that it would be “great if I could tell you all about my holiday around a good dinner” while getting well into your personal space.  
“When Hell freezes over” had been on the tip of your tongue, but you had kept silent and shrugged non-commitally, hoping Brian would forget all about this idea during his holiday in Hawaï.

He hadn’t said how long his holiday was going to last and frankly, you hadn’t wanted to ask, because he’d have taken your question for real interest in his life. Well, it’d have been. You really had wanted to know how long your peace would last.

 

Not long enough, that was how long it lasted.

You had barely set foot in your department's breakroom that you immediately spotted Brian’s profile. And you just couldn’t do it. You couldn’t enter that room and pretend. Not this morning. Not ever again. It was like being free of Brian’s attentions for a week had made you allergic to him. So you turned on your heels. But either Brian had glimpsed you or someone had told him you were here because next thing you knew, he was calling your name.

 

You thought you were hurrying aimlessly but you realized that your feet were directing you to your secret breakroom. Maybe because you considered the place like a safe zone. But it was a very bad idea because Brian was closing in on you if the sound of his footsteps was any indication. If you hadn’t been panicking you’d have thought about hiding in any of the empty conference rooms on your way, but you ended up in the breakroom instead, almost out of breath from anxiety. How could you have fucked up that much?

Two things struck you as you entered: there was someone in the breakroom. That someone was male, _built_ , with blond hair and striking blue eyes. You immediately identified that someone as Captain America, in spite of having never met him in person. He was on the news often enough.  
In the split second that followed, you noted that Captain America held a brand new coffee bag in his hands and looked guilty as hell.  
You heard the sound of Brian arriving just behind you and… well, your brain had never been good in panic mode, so next thing you knew, you were urgently whispering “ **I need you to be my boyfriend for about five minutes!** ” to Captain Fucking America, pouring all the despair you felt in your eyes, which was a lot.  
You immediately regretted that idea because, WHAT?! But it was too late. The Captain’s eyebrows shot up so high they almost disappeared into his hair.

“Y/n,” Brian began, and you wondered how you could have endured his one-sided conversations in the past, because right now just the sound of his voice made your skin crawl. “What are you doing here?”  
His tone was somewhat accusatory, like he had a right to your whereabouts.  
You threw a last look at the Captain before turning to Brian.  
“I was about to take a coffee break.”   
You felt a little calmer now and you were trying to give a chance to Steve Rogers to escape from the very awkward situation you had put him in, even if it meant finding yourself alone with Brian.   
“In here? But why? Why not in our breakroom?”  
“I…”  
You couldn’t find anything to answer that wouldn’t betray the fact that you’d been avoiding him for weeks.  
“Is this where you come when you’re not taking your breaks with me?”  
Brian’s tone had turned offended, as if your break time didn’t belong to you.  
And he had gotten into your personal space again.  
“Y/n’s been spending most of her breaks with me,” Steve Rogers said. His voice sounded close to you so you guessed he had come nearer. You were briefly torn between relief at his intervention, and feeling sorry for having dragged him into this. He probably had better things to do with his time.  
Brian froze, seemingly noticing the other occupant of the room for the first time. If Brian weren’t such a creep, you’d feel flattered that he was so into you he somehow hadn’t seen the wall of a man standing in the room until he spoke. But you knew it was more likely Brian was so self-absorbed that nothing else but what interested him mattered.

“Captain Rogers?”   
Brian looked from you to the man in question.  
“Look, Y/n and I would appreciate if you kept this to yourself for the time being,” Steve Rogers said.  
You were stunned as you immediately saw the genius move for what it was. You bit the inside of your cheek really hard not to smile. You had to look worried for Steve’s idea to work.  
Brian was a lot of things but not stupid, so what Steve was implying clicked for him. He threw you a harsh look.  
“Why did you keep leading me on?”  
You felt your mouth dropping open. Was he even real?  
“You flirted back, you accepted my invitation to a date!” Brian’s face was growing red.  
So you hadn’t imagined things. Brian was interested in you, and he hadn’t taken the thousands of hints you had dropped that you _weren’t_ interested. At all.  
You suddenly felt warmth at your back and you realized who it was. Steve was standing as close to you as possible to keep up the pretense while still being a gentleman about it. The contrast with Brian couldn’t have been starker.

“I suggest you moderate your tone,” Steve said, his voice cold.  
You had only ever seen him giving interviews for charities or such things on TV so you had no idea he could get like this. Then you remembered that he worked for Shield and was a WWII veteran, not just the poster boy for health campaigns.  
Yet you didn’t feel threatened at all. On the other hand, you saw Brian gulping. He cleared his throat.

“Yes, well. It’s just that she should have told me…”  
“She’s also in the room,” you cut, emboldened by Steve’s support, both emotional and physical. “I never encouraged you in any way. I kept trying to make you understand I wasn’t interested.”  
“Why didn’t you tell me frankly you weren’t?”  
You took a deep breath. “Brian, I’m not interested in dating you and I’d like to take my coffee breaks in peace.”  
Brian looked insulted. “But I’ve always been nice to you!”  
“I just spoke to you plainly, and that’s how you react. Do you understand why I didn’t say anything?”  
You were on a roll, you no longer cared about the consequences. You had accumulated a lot of feelings during the last weeks and now it seemed like the dam had broken.

“I think you were leading me on. You know the position I have at Accounts, you probably thought you’d climb the ladder faster if I was sweet on you.”  
You heard a sharp intake of breath behind you so you were quick to speak up. You didn’t want Steve to dirty his hands with this. “How could I not know your position indeed, as you’ve been keen to remind me at each break I’m forced to take with you.” You knew you were going down, you might as well do it guns blazing. You heard a discreet noise behind you that might have been a muffled snort.

“How can you talk to me like this? I’ll have you know I could have my pick among the female employees here.”  
“Then why don’t you pick someone who’ll be interested?”  
Brian gaped. “I’m going to send an email to HR about your conduct. As you’ve been working here for only two months, you know the consequences.”  
You felt Steve shift and soon enough he was standing on the side, his hands on his hips. You noted that the air of cold anger around him suited him well.

“I think you are forgetting yourself, Mr… ?”  
“Floyd.”  
“Mr Floyd. I kind of know the big boss personally, and once I tell him about your despicable conduct with the personnel here, I’m sure your complaint to HR will be treated accordingly: forgotten.”  
You could see that Brian wanted to answer, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew when to retreat. And retreating he did, walking backwards to the door, as if doing that would make it look less like he was fleeing the stage of his humiliation. Because that was what it was for him.  
You dreaded the moment you’d find yourself alone with him again. Because you had no doubt it would happen. He’d make sure of it.  
“You’ll hear from me again,” he said, pointing to you, just before turning his back and exiting the breakroom.  
You felt your whole body immediately relaxing, as if he had taken all the negative energy with him.

“I’m sorry.”  
Disbelief flooded you. Did Captain America just apologize to you?  
“I beg your pardon?”  
“I’m sorry you had to endure this man’s advances.”  
Steve’s eyes were soft and he looked so genuinely sorry that the tight control you had kept on how you felt about this threatened to break. Such genuine kindness was rare. 

“I… It’s me who should apologize. I’m so sorry I put you in a tight spot. I didn’t know what to do.”  
Steve shook his head. “I was glad to help.” He smiled. He smiled and his eyes twinkled. That was something to behold. “You’re lucky I didn’t have to speak a lot because I’ve been told I’m a really bad liar.”  
You found yourself smiling back. It was impossible not to. “Seriously, I don’t know how to thank you for what you’ve done. You could have walked away.”  
Steve looked scandalized at the idea. “Why would I?!”  
“Maybe because you were stealing coffee?”  
You were treated with the pleasant sight of Steve Rogers turning pink.   
“Er… _Someone_ drank all our coffee so I thought that if I nipped by the closest breakroom, I’d find some.”

You knew that the Avengers had living quarters in the Tower. It was a well known fact, but something you hadn’t really dwelled on since starting to work here. This was an unexpected reminder.

“I should have gone out to buy some, but…” Steve looked down at himself, clad in a plain – too tight, way too tight – tee-shirt, sweatpants and… socks. He wasn’t even wearing shoes and you hadn’t noticed.

“Oh. Well, you’re welcome to borrow all the coffee you might need next time.”  
Wait… were you… were you flirting?! With Steve Rogers?!  
The man in question cleared his throat. You didn’t know if he had become pink again or if it was a remainder of his coffee-stealing shame.  
“About this man, Floyd…” The reminder that Brian existed was like being doused with cold water “He’s not going to leave you alone, and I’ve made it worse. I’m sorry.”  
“Look, I… I’ll deal with it, okay? Please, don’t apologize about making this asshole feel bad. It was beautiful to watch.”

You meant every word. It was going to suck, but it had been magnificent to see Brian leaving the room with his tail between his legs.  
Steve’s mouth twitched, like he wanted to smile but didn’t know you well enough to be sure you’d found that acceptable.

“You shouldn’t have to deal with him. You won’t have to deal with him, in fact. If you go to HR and tell them of his attitude, I’m sure they’ll part with him.”  
Well, Steve Rogers was more naive than you thought. But you couldn’t hold it against him. His heart was in the right place.  
“They’ll part with me, more like. That’s not how things work, Steve.”  
He threw you a look you couldn’t decipher and you realized that, even if you had recognized him, introductions hadn’t been officially made. And here you were calling him by his first name.  
“I’m sorry, Captain.”  
“Steve is fine. I’m aware that sadly that’s how things work elsewhere, but not here. Pepper and Tony won’t stand for that behavior. I can personally guaranty you that Floyd will be fired and that he’ll have a hard time finding a respectable job elsewhere.”

Oh. You felt a bit silly, and also a bit mortified because the office work you were doing here was so mundane you had kinda forgotten that Stark Industries was Tony Stark’s, and that the CEO was Pepper Potts. While you had been impressed by the many advantages here, you hadn’t quite grasped that things could be that different from the other places where you had worked.

“I… I hadn’t realized, otherwise I’d have gone to HR much sooner.”  
“I’m going to see Tony and Pepper tonight. If you want to avoid a difficult report to HR, I could give your name and phone line to Pepper and explain that a friend is in trouble?”  
You were very well aware of the fact that you were gaping like a fish. Was this man for real? Why weren’t other men like this?  
“Or if you don’t want to, that’s okay.”  
“No! I just… I don’t even know what to say, you’re being so nice.”  
Here it came again, the endearing flush spreading from Steve’s cheeks to his ears. With the addition of his hand rubbing his nape. Steve Rogers was Trouble.

“Let me…” You searched your jacket pockets for the pen and post-it notes you knew you always had with you. Once you had found them, you went to a table and carefully wrote your full name and your phone line on it.  
Coming from any other man, you might have suspected it was just a ploy to get your coordinates, but it only crossed your mind as you handed the post-it note to Steve, and you immediately dismissed the notion as ludicrous.

Steve stuck the post-it on the coffee bag he had retrieved from the counter. You realized he must have disposed of it when Brian entered. He followed your gaze.  
“There’s probably a riot up there right now,” he said. “This – he pointed to your post-it note – is going to be taken care of.”  
“Brian’s not going to be found at the bottom of the Hudson with his feet in concrete, right? Cause I don’t like him, but not to that point.”  
Steve made a soft breathy sound as he grinned. “The Avengers aren’t that kind of organization.”  
“Glad we cleared that up,” was the only witty thing you found to say. Your flirting was really rusty. Who were you trying to fool, your flirting had always been abysmal at best.

“Well, I got to go,” Steve said as he went to the door, carrying the coffee like a precious relic.   
Yeah, your flirting was bad.

Steve turned at the last moment. “Are you going to keep having your breaks here in the future?”  
You probably looked like a deer in the headlights. “I… think… maybe, yes.” What the hell did he… OH. OH MY GOD. “YES. I mean, I will. It’s pleasantly quiet.”

The good thing in that debacle was that Steve looked as flustered as you felt.

“Er, around the same time?” he asked.  
“Yes, most probably.”  
“Okay.”  
Steve threw you a blinding grin just before leaving, the rascal.

You guessed you were never going to see your department’s breakroom again.


End file.
